Language Server

Badness brings formatting, linting, and language features to LaTeX and BibTeX editors through the Language Server Protocol. See Editor Setup to connect your editor and the Editor Configuration reference for shared settings and PDF search.

Command completion

Command suggestions include short signatures, such as \section[]{} and \vspace{}, before you select an item. Clients that support completion label details can display the argument suffix beside the command name. Other clients receive the full signature in the completion item’s detail field. Full documentation loads when the client resolves the selected item.

Signatures use the document’s definitions, loaded local packages, and Badness’s built-in data. They show the known argument slots delimited by braces or brackets. They do not describe every TeX argument protocol. The signature display does not insert arguments.

Known math and text symbols and logos, such as \omega, \hbar, \copyright, and \LaTeX, have the completion kind Constant. Known argument-free control, spacing, and declaration commands, such as \newpage, \par, \quad, and \bfseries, have kind Keyword. Argument-taking commands such as \vspace retain Function. Editors can use these distinctions for icons and automatic brackets; for example, blink.cmp can insert braces after \vspace while leaving \omega and \newpage bare. Recognized definitions in the document or loaded local packages override the built-in classification, as do explicit project declarations. Commands without a curated classification keep their existing completion kinds; an empty signature alone does not establish zero arguments.

LaTeX3 completion

Badness completes expl3 functions, variables, and constants inside \ExplSyntaxOn regions, after \ProvidesExplPackage, \ProvidesExplClass, or \ProvidesExplFile, and inside recognized expl3 macrocode regions in .dtx files. For example, \tl_ offers \tl_set:Nn, and \l_tmpa_ offers scratch variables. The built-in catalog ships with Badness and needs no TeX installation.

Completion also includes literal definitions in the current file and loaded local packages and classes, including \cs_new:Npn functions, variable and constant declarations, conditional forms, and generated variants. Badness does not expand macros to discover computed names. It skips incomplete definitions and definitions stored as token-list data. These names support completion; expl3 definition navigation and argument signature help are not yet provided.

Renaming source files

Invoke your editor’s LSP rename command inside a literal source path, such as \input{chapters/introduction}. Badness renames the file and updates its references across the discovered workspace. This also works with \include, \subfile, \subfileinclude, \import, \subimport, \loadglsentries, and the parent path in \documentclass[...]{subfiles}. Literal \includeonly lists are updated along with their targets.

The new name uses the same base directory as the original argument. For example, renaming chapters/introduction to appendix moves the file to appendix.tex beside the referring document. Use chapters/appendix to keep it in the same directory. Import commands use their directory argument as the base. Badness preserves the file extension when you omit it and keeps each reference’s extension spelling when it still resolves correctly. Renaming an imported file preserves the import directory argument unless that directory itself moves.

Moves stay within the same workspace root and never overwrite existing files or destination buffers. New parent directories are allowed when the editor creates them while applying the file operation; Neovim supports this. Without workspace folders, Badness uses the initiating document’s directory as the boundary.

File explorers can also rename source files and folders through workspace/willRenameFiles and workspace/didRenameFiles. Your explorer must send these requests and notifications. When files move, Badness adjusts their recognized references, including references to assets inside moved folders. Renaming from the cursor includes edits to references even when explorer hooks are enabled. Unsaved editor buffers take precedence over disk contents. Each referring file uses its own project’s declarations and exclusions, including nested projects and other workspace folders.

Badness declines moves across directories when a moved source contains relative file arguments. Their resolution can depend on the compilation directory or an import context, which cannot be inferred from the source’s location alone. It also checks the compilation and import directories inherited through literal source loads. If a reference requires different edits in those contexts, Badness declines the rename, even when the referring file stays in place.

File rename requires a client that supports LSP resource-rename operations. Dynamic paths, braceless inputs, \graphicspath, and symlink aliases are not resolved for rename. Source and destination paths cannot pass through symlinks inside the workspace, and new names cannot contain quotation marks or TeX delimiters. Badness also declines names containing spaces when a reference uses \usepackage, \RequirePackage, or \bibliography, which strip those spaces. Unresolved references and files excluded from discovery remain unchanged. Installed TEXMF files and navigation-only .dtx fallbacks are never renamed. Renaming directly from bibliography, graphics, package, or class arguments is not supported.

Inlining an input file

With the cursor on \input{filename}, Inline input file replaces the statement with the referenced file’s contents. This refactor.inline action resolves paths relative to the current file and defaults a missing extension to .tex. It uses unsaved editor contents when available and otherwise reads the file from disk. It preserves following groups and adds a final newline when needed to separate inserted tokens and comments from following text. The referenced file stays in place.

The action requires a complete, literal brace argument. It is withheld for missing files, self-inputs, comments between the command and its argument, and locally redefined or project-declared \input commands. It expands only the selected input. Nested inputs remain as written.

Table refactoring

With the cursor inside a statically understood tabular, tabular*, or array environment, the Add column at end code action appends a centered c column to the preamble and an empty trailing cell to every row. The action is withheld when the preamble uses unknown column types, a row has an ambiguous width, or the environment has been redefined, so it never applies a partial table rewrite.